1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cutting board designed to facilitate slicing by providing a safe and efficient bracing mechanism for bread and other food product while incorporating a cutting surface for other common food preparation tasks.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The use of sharp cutting instruments to slice food product has proven to be a hazardous task that has led to many unfortunate injuries, ranging from cuts to the loss of fingers. Generally, these injuries occur because the victims were using their free hand to support the food product, placing that hand in a dangerous position. The solution to this problem is to provide a means for supporting food that will allow the user to keep his hands out of harms way. The device should provide a bracing mechanism that can allow easy control of the force applied in bracing. Bread is a food item that is commonly sliced and the force must be moderated so as to prevent smashing. Many of the devices in the prior art do not provide the capability to make a subtle variation in the bracing force and are restrictive in their use because of their design. The bracing mechanism provided in the present invention can be varied for use with food items of almost any size and delicacy.
While there are numerous devices that exist in the prior art that provide some form of support for slicing food, they ignore the fact that slicing is only one of many food preparation tasks that are required. A cutting surface is required for other jobs such as dicing and chopping. With all of the inventions in the prior art it is necessary to store, find and clean separate units. The present invention combines a bracing mechanism with a cutting surface for other food preparation needs. Unlike previous inventions, this is accomplished with a minimum number of parts so as to make cleaning and maintenance simple. A cook can alternate easily between slicing and dicing, for example, without the need to switch back and forth between tools. Anyone who has performed the task of preparing large amounts of food can understand the importance of this kind of efficiency.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,577,430 to Glen K. Gunderson discloses a device that is designed to assist in the slicing of bread. The design incorporates a slot that guides the pathway of a knife in a vertical path. In addition it provides a surface against which the bread can be placed so as to keep it in one place during the cutting. The position of this surface is variable according to the thickness desired by the user. The device does not provide a means of support on the other side of the bread thus requiring the user to hold that end with his hand. This increases the risk of injury for the user particularly for narrow breads such as bagels. While this design provides a means for adjusting the thickness of a particular slice, it does not enable the user to fully support the food product while keeping their hands out of harms way. The Gunderson ""430 Patent also does not provide an incorporated flat cutting surface that can be used for additional food preparation tasks.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,611,266 and 5,724,877 to Milo M. Kensrue discloses a device for holding food product while the user slices it. This invention incorporates a flat stationary surface that contacts one side of the food product while the opposite side is supported by a brace that is held against said opposite side by one of two mechanisms. One mechanism uses a spring to provide the support for said brace, while the other uses a variable screw clamp. Neither of these mechanisms allow for the ease and sensitive control that is provided by the combination cutting board and slicing brace. The present invention incorporates a sliding base for the brace support, which allows the user to directly apply the appropriate force. The Kensrue ""877 patent also provides no cutting surface for other food preparation.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,125,046 to Norma J. Kroh and George Spector provides aspects that are similar to the present invention for bracing food product during the slicing process. However, the overall design is awkward because it requires separate pieces to store and clean and it incorporates an enclosed frame that would limit the size of food product sliced. The Kroh ""046 patent also fails to disclose a cutting surface for additional tasks.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,085,642 to Thomas F. Buckingham provides a sliding support for its bracing mechanism as does the present invention, but the design of this sliding mechanism is distinctly different. The sliding support in the present invention is designed so that it can be incorporated into a cutting surface. The result is an efficient design that combines both a cutting board and a bracing device for slicing. The Buckingham ""642 patent employs a rail mechanism that could not be incorporated into a flat cutting surface.
U.S. Pat. No. 389,380 to Simon Yin-Chung Liu, Cheng Yue-Chun, and Kwai Chung is a design patent that discloses a wrack for slicing. While this device is designed for assistance in the slicing of food product, its sole purpose is to provide a means for guiding the cutting instrument during the slicing process. It provides support on only one side and therefore would require the user to use her hand to support the other side. It also does not provide for a means for incorporating a cutting surface such as the cutting board in the present invention.
Therefore a need exists for a novel and enhanced tool for bracing food product during the slicing process while providing a cutting surface for other food preparation procedures. Combining these tasks in a single unit would increase efficiency and minimize the use of storage space. In addition, the design should maximize the safety of the user. In this respect, the combination cutting board and slicing brace according to the present invention substantially departs from the conventional concepts and designs of the prior art, and in doing so provides an apparatus primarily developed for the purpose of slicing food safely and providing a cutting surface.
In view of the foregoing disadvantages inherent in the known types of devices for assisting in the slicing process now present in the prior art, the present invention provides an improved combination of security and utility, and overcomes the abovementioned disadvantages and drawbacks of the prior art. As such, the general purpose of the present invention, which will be described subsequently in greater detail, is to provide a new and improved combination cutting board and slicing brace which has all of the advantages of the prior art mentioned heretofore and many novel features that result in a combination cutting board and slicing brace which is not anticipated, rendered obvious, suggested, or even implied by the prior art, either alone or in combination thereof.
In furtherance of this objective, the combination cutting board and slicing brace comprises a cutting board that has a groove in its upper surface. Sliding within said groove is an arm that is shaped so as to create a flat upper surface that combines with the upper surface of said cutting board to create a solid cutting surface. Said arm is also configured to enable the user to grasp the arm for sliding to a desired location. Connected to one end of said arm is a first jaw for clamping food products. Connected to the upper surface of said cutting board is a second jaw positioned opposite of said first jaw so as to clamp the opposite side of food product clamped by said first jaw.
There has been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the invention in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated.
The arm in said present invention may in addition comprise a cavity that opens on the surface of the end attached to said first jaw and extends to a inner wall inside of said arm. One end of a coil spring is attached to this inner wall. The other end of the coil spring is attached to a beam shaped to slide within said cavity. The beam will be sufficiently long so as to extend out of said cavity when the coil spring is fully extended and provide an upper surface for which to rest food product that is level with the lower edge of the surface of said first jaw.
An additional aspect of the combination cutting board and slicing brace is that the above-described jaws will comprise a shape wherein the top surface is angled upward from the upper edge contiguous with the surface contacting the food product so as to guide the blade of a knife towards the upper surface of the food product. Another feature of the jaws will be pyramidal shaped spikes that are connected to the clamping surface so as to secure the food product being sliced.
Numerous objects, features and advantages of the present invention will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art upon a reading of the following detailed description of presently preferred, but nonetheless illustrative, embodiments of the present invention when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. In this respect, before explaining the current embodiment of the invention in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and to the arrangements of the components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings. The invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced and carried out in various ways. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein are for the purpose of descriptions and should not be regarded as limiting.
As such, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the conception, upon which this disclosure is based, may readily be utilized as a basis for the designing of other structures, methods and systems for carrying out the several purposes of the present invention. It is important, therefore, that the claims be regarded as including such equivalent constructions insofar as they do not depart from the spirit and scope of the present invention.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a new and improved combination cutting board and slicing brace that has all of the advantages of the prior art and none of the disadvantages.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a new and improved combination cutting board and slicing brace that may be easily and efficiently manufactured and marketed.
An even further object of the present invention is to provide a new and improved combination cutting board and slicing brace that has a low cost of manufacture with regard to both materials and labor, and which accordingly is then susceptible of low prices of sale to the consuming public, thereby making such combination cutting board and slicing braces economically available to the buying public.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a new combination cutting board and slicing brace that provides in the apparatuses and methods of the prior art some of the advantages thereof, while simultaneously overcoming some of the disadvantages normally associated therewith.